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What a load. Bitcoin is only one of now hundreds of instant cryptocurrency schemes... with more coming online every day. They all have a carbon footprint too, try adding it up (Ether has a footprint of 96,000,000 tonnes CO2 since inception). Ever heard of Chia miners in China buying up all the available hard drives recently? You better believe that energy mix is not green. As for the theory that cryptocurrency somehow would prevent "whipsaw" market dynamics, you only have to look at the parabolic nature of the market prices of crypto to know this is a complete load. Cryptocurrency is untethered, and there are well known pump and dump price actions. Stop trying to make crypto "the people's money", it's not, bankers are just as involved in cryptocurrency trading and it's likely ordinary people will be left holding the bag. This article is grasping at straws to try to avoid the very real problem of carbon emissions and the proliferation of cryptocurrency forms. While I think the underlying block chain technology has potential useful applications, the trading of the currency itself is a valueless activity that is simply awful for the planet.

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Everything is bad for the environment if you ignore what it replaces -- solar, for example, is pure waste if it's not replacing anything.

As for the "hundreds of cryptocurrency schemes," then be the change and encourage people to standardize on Bitcoin as the one that actually replaces something far worse.

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